Test warning on hazard loads
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• Goods vehicle operators applying for an appointment for plating and testing are reminded by the MoT of the importance of answering correctly question 18 on the application form. This concerns the carriage of noxious substances or dangerous goods, as special precautions have to be taken at testing stations during examination of vehicles used for carrying such loads.
The answers to question 18 are intended to enable the Goods Vehicle Centre to identify such vehicles and to send to operators, with the appointment letter, a special form (No. VTG 15) on which they are required to certify that the vehicle has been made safe for examination. The completed form must be handed in on arrival at the testing station— without it the test will not be conducted.
Operators who normally carry dangerous goods can answer the question affirmatively without difficulty, giving details in answer to question 18(c). Operators who never carry dangerous goods should also have no problem with the question.
Some general carriers, however, may not know when making applications for test whether or not their vehicles will be required to carry dangerous goods immediately prior to, or during, the course of the test. The occasional carriage of dangerous goods in containers should be ignored for the purposes of the question and in such cases the answer to question 18(b) should therefore be "No.'" Station managers will accept vehicles which have carried goods of this sort immediately prior to the test without requiring form VTG 15 to be completed, but they will not in any circumstances accept general purpose vehicles for test which are loaded or partially loaded with dangerous goods in containers (e.g. corrosives in carboys).